Has anyone found that Lonnie Dealers will move their mobile homes from one MHP to another MHP (if they find something unsuitable in their current location)?My Husband and I have been firm believers that most Mobile Homes will stay in the Mobile Home Park that they are initially setup in as most owners do not have the financial ability to move them.We understand that some mobile homes will move based on being sold or non-payment of mortgages.Recently, we had a local, large Mobile Home Park close due to a higher and better use of the property.As a result of this MHP closure another MHP went from approximately 50% filled to almost 100% filled.Now we are learning that this almost 100% filled MHP is losing quite a few of their mobile homes.We actually acquired one of their mobile homes (not because we solicited it nor even advertised…the owner actually approached us). What we learned is that the almost 100% filled MHP is run by Managers. The owners are local, but more hands off. After the Mobile Home Mover transported the one mobile home to our MHP they went back to gather the steps and hot water heater (within an hour of moving the home).When the Mobile Home Mover went back to the old lot, the Manager of the almost 100% filled MHP was literally sawing the stairs in two and cutting the fittings off the hot water heater. The Mobile Home Mover actually took video of the situation.I am not sure what transpired initially to cause quite a few of the mobile home owners to move their mobile homes.However, I was just curious if anyone has seen or experienced quite a few mobile homes moving out of a MHP. If yes, who were the owners (Lonnie Dealers or Home Owners)?Thanks So Very Much!Kristin
We’ve not experienced Lonnie Dealers moving their homes out. We did however have one Lonnie Dealer sell a home to a buyer who pulled it out to his own land. This was in Oklahoma where land is cheap.Your mileage may vary,-jl-
Jefferson, thank you for your comments!As a result of our local, large Mobile Home Park (500 spaces on 120 acres) closing for a higher and better use a lot of the homes in the closed MHP were sold to Lonnie Dealers who had/have the financial ability to move their mobile homes when necessary.Thus, a combination of poor management and financially secure Lonnie Dealers makes mobile homes in our area a little more mobile :-).
There are many possible explanations for what you are seeing, but they all relate to lousy park management and management systems. Perhaps the manager of the park does not like these residents, and is just evicting them for no reason other than her taste in people (also a violation of Fair Housing). Or maybe they are being ridiculously hard on collections, evicting people who even pay their entire rent and court costs, just because it’s a bother to have to file on them, or on some misguided concept of proving who’s boss. Or maybe they just don’t like rentals, even though they pay on time and cause no problems. In any event, the owner is an idiot to let this happen, as each lot is vacated costs him maybe $30,000 in value. But to the manager, there is no tie-back to monetary value, so they just evict at will without a care in the world.
Frank, thank you for your comments!Frank, you are correct in terms of the park not liking these residents. The Lonnie Dealer is a successful couple (one American & one Hispanic) and their Tenants are primarily Hispanic.The Lonnie Dealer, who is moving out their homes voluntarily, had approximately 5 mobile homes in the almost 100% occupied MHP.This Lonnie Dealer is moving all of their homes out of said MHP.This Lonnie Dealer is pretty spunky and tracked down one of the owners of the MHP (all of the owners are pretty hands off).The Lonnie Dealer told the Owner that the Managers would not return their deposits and that the Managers had sawed their stairs in two and cut off the fittings on their hot water heater (the Mobile Home Mover filmed the event when he returned less than an hour later after moving the home).The Owner said that the Managers should not have been taking deposits on the lots.Previously, these Owners had a Manager that was ‘selling’ the lots and collecting down-payments which they kept for themselves (these lots are not divided out…the MHP is one parcel of land).For those using Managers (even if you are local) be careful what they ‘might’ be doing when you are not looking.
Managers need to always be closely managed by owners. Trust is not generally a good business practice. If these managers are making bad decisions the owner needs to get involved but if in fact the manager is operating at the owner’s direction then in my opinion all the power to the owner for being pro active in their selection of residents. My personal business plan is very selective and presently has resulted in two vacant lots. I prefer temporary vacancies over undesirable residents. Vacancies being only a minor blip on my overall business plan.
I personally would not want Lonnie dealers or rental homes in my park as they are never maintained to the standard of the community and generally their residents are the bottom of the economic chain. I discriminate for the benifit of all residents.